Will Negligence become the new standard of care?

This chart illustrates the comparison of the cost of care for similar clients who have high support care needs of 24 hours/day. By continuing to be misled by many who claim that they can better serve these residents in the community and at a lower cost, they have no data to support that claim. The reason is because it is impossible.

To move these clients (who do not want to be moved anyhow) to a different environment assuming that thier care cost would go down is a form of abuse and neglect. Is this a choice which you would choose for your loved one? I would hope not. It’s certainly not a choice that I will choose.

What is happening though is that we are not given the choice – this “choice” is being made for us and our loved ones by those who do not have a clue about how demanding it is to care for some of these residents. They base their information on caring for those with much lower support care needs.

When taking a look at the chart below, you can see the average support care needs which each agency reports. Why are the advocates who care for residents with much lower support care needs able to manipulate our legislators and citizens into believing that they also know what is best for and how best to care for our residents with the higher support care needs? This is ludicrous.

It is time that the advocates who say they are advocating for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities not only listen to people who care for those with high support needs but also re-read the US DD Act and the 1999 US Supreme Court Decision of Olmstead to understand that by continuing on the path of advocacy which they are on does not only cause more crisis and loss of services, it does not uphold the decision of Olmstead or the US DD Act.

It’s time that the family members, community members and caregivers of those with the highest support needs are allowed to be included in Stakeholder discussions and decisions. What happened to “nothing about us without us” – does it not apply to these folks?

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